Tag Archives: Career

In my last post on balancing parenthood with freelancing I talked about maternity leave logistical realities. This week I want to talk a little bit more about the emotional side of things. After defining myself by my work for so long, I was shocked to find myself not loving work after g-pterodactyl (preschooler girl) was born. I took 5 months of maternity leave after g-pterodactyl was born, which I needed for both the physical recovery and the mental adjustment to parenthood. Returning to work was a bit of a shock, and it was the first time my ‘work’ felt like ‘work’.

It really bothered me that I wasn’t working purely for the love of it anymore. Before my pterodactyls, people used to give me a wink-wink, nudge-nudge when I told them that no, really, I didn’t do it for money–but I meant it. That shifted a bit when g-pterodactyl came along. I had to force myself to sit at the computer. Once I got going I enjoyed the work, but there were still other things I’d rather be doing: watching her learn to crawl, making yummy food, sleeping… I never got to a point where I wanted to quit, but I finally understood why many women do want to focus entirely on their families. We financially needed me to keep working, and I also knew that I’d worked too long and hard building both my skills and my client base to give it all up. Even if I’d wanted to take a temporary break beyond my maternity leave, I knew I would have had a long road re-establishing myself.

Following Your Passions to Find your Niche; Career Talk at Lewis and Clark College

I’m excited to share my story of transition from science-geek to a science-art-geek-hybrid at my alma mater, Lewis and Clark College, on Friday the 13th (oooo) at 3:30pm. I’ll get to talk a little bit about combining two seemingly disparate subjects (why, science and art of course) and hopefully offer some inspiration to those searching for their own weird combination. On Saturday I’ll follow it up with an introductory workshop on 2d and 3d Digital art. If you’re an LC student find-out place, time and register here: college.lclark.edu/offices/alumni/saa/events/.

Career Talk from N.R. Fuller of Sayo-Art LLC on combining your passions and finding your niche at Lewis and Clark College, April 13th, 3:30.

In light of the upcoming talk, I’ve been contemplating how my career path may be applicable to those with differing interests. The more I think about it, the more I realize that career happiness on a day to to day basis (and thus success… but that’s a whole ‘nother post) is largely based on PROCESS. Yes, I’ve found a way to combine two subjects I’m interested in, but I’ve also found a job that suits my personality for day-to-day activities.

From a young age we’re encouraged to think in terms of subject matter, and the jobs that relate to those subjects (well, perhaps other than the Village People’s set of careers) . Often it’s not even related to what subjects you ENJOY, but instead focused on what you’re good at. Of course, what you’re good at and what you enjoy are often one in the same, but for those out there searching for their (next) career path I’d argue reassessment might be helpful based on a couple of other factors…) A few examples that have been relevant for me:

Detail or Generalist? Are you detail oriented and like plenty of time for a thorough job (mildly anal-retentive), or like me are you a big picture person who wants a quick turn-around so you can be passionate about a project for a defined time, and then BE DONE (mildly messy, flighty, and easily bored)?

People Person? Do you thrive being part of a team, or are you content being a lone wolf (like me, which is why I may go days not talking to anyone other than my 2yr old and husband)?

I’ll stop with the comparisons before getting too myers-brigg-ish, but you get my point. In retrospect it’s pretty clear why a bench scientist job wasn’t my perfect fit. The ideals of science–like learning how things work–great! Doing it in a methodical way and daily troubleshooting why your results are unintelligible? Not the perfect fit… for me. You may have noticed in the bullet list I included some negative descriptions in parenthesis. I think we’re sometimes handicapped from seeing and truly understanding ourselves, because we’ve learned to equate a specific trait with the negative description rather than the positive (what, me messy?). If you can learn to consider the positive side, it may allow you to accept the direction of your true potential. I know, a lofty goal. On the flip side, if we can learn to accept the negative description as well, it’s easier to recognize potential pitfalls, AND easier to laugh at ourselves. (Here’s to trying!)

Since we’re discussing negativity, another hang-up that took me awhile to get past were my narrow definitions of different fields. When I was younger I definitely fell into the rigidly idealistic category. I didn’t see art as a viable option, because I saw it as a black and white choice between being a poor, misunderstood ‘true-artist’ (yet another post for another time), or a commercial artist whose career and work would be entirely dictated by others’ wants (commercial = bad, to my young brain). Obviously, my sweeping generalizations were way off, but moreover it kept me from really learning what the jobs entailed. I crept into the commercial art field through the side-door, and it wasn’t until I turned around and realized I WAS a graphic artist that I really understood what it was all about and what I really digged: visual problem solving and communicating and taking someone else’s story to depict it visually.

So I guess in the end, remember to reassess what your limits are… they may just be your strengths, and reconsider paths you might have initially rejected.